G R iE C I A. 



provided with I ico (hips of "\rar, and jcco (hips of bur- 

 then, for his intended expedition : and his army conlifted of 

 feventeen hundred thoiiiand infantry, and four hundrt-d thou- 

 innd cavah-y, and thefe, joined to tliofe who manned his 

 tk-et, amounted to near two milhons of fighting men. lii 

 t.!ie year 480 B.C. he pafTed the Hcllofpont, and the vain- 

 glorious monarch had the pleafiire of reviewing the whole 

 fleet and army near Dorifcus, a city of Thrace, at the 

 mouth of the river Hebrus. In the mean while thofe Greci- 

 ans, who, unmoved by tlie terrors of invaiion, obeyed the 

 voice of libcrly and their country, had fent deputies to the 

 il'tiunus of Corinth, to deliberate about the common fafetv. 

 A general union pi-cvailcd, and the general danger feemed 

 to harmonize the moll dllcordant members of the common 

 council. The Grecian fleet failed to /^rtemifium, patient- 

 ly expefting the arrival of the barbarians. The ftraits of 

 Thermopylae, 15 miles diftant from the ftation of the Gre- 

 cian fleet at Artemifium, and deemed the gate or entrance 

 into Greece, v.as guarded by troops, conhlling chiefly of 

 Peloponnefians, under the command of Leonidas, the 

 Spartan king. Xerxes having made his previous arrange- 

 ments, fent mefiengers to treat with the Spartans, and to de- 

 fire theia to lay down their arms ; to whicli tliev replied, 

 " Let him come and take them." The meffengers then of- 

 fi;red them lands, on condition of their becoming allies to the 

 great king, but they anfv.ered : " That it was the ciflbm of 

 their republic to conquer lands by valour, not to acquire 

 them by treachery." Xerxes waited four days after the re- 

 turn of the meffengers, expefting the Grecians to retreat 

 into their own country, or furrendcr their arms. On the 

 fifth day he determined to chaftife their infolent oppofition. 

 The attack was ordered, and the Perllans were repelled : 

 it was renewed the next day with the like refult. 



The Greeks, however, were betrayed by Epialtes, a per- 

 fidious wretch of their own nation, who conducted a body 

 of twenty thoufand Perlians through a pafTage in the moun- 

 tains of Oeta, feveral miles to the well of that guarded by 

 Leonidas. The Athenian general had prudently guarded this 

 important but unknown pafs, which, as he conceived, chance 

 or treachery might difcover to the Perllans. A body of 

 1000 Phocians had been appointed to this fervice ; upon the 

 approach of the Perlians they inilantly flew to their arms, 

 and determined to refill the progrefs of the enemy or to die 

 in the attempt. Expefting to be purfued, they retired to 

 the highefl part of the mountain ; but the Pcrfians, declining 

 to follow them, feized the paffage wliich they had aban- 

 doned, and marched down the mountain in order to accom- 

 plifh the defigu which had been preconcerted by the traitor 

 Epialtes. I^conidas, apprized of this ail of treachery, called 

 a council of war ; when all the confederates of Pelopannefus, 

 except the Spartans, determined to abandon a poll v.hich 

 they deemed to be untenable. Leonidas, however, with 700 

 Thelpians, 4C0 Thebans, and 300 Spartans, remained in 

 the poll of danger and of glory. In the dead of night the 

 •Spartans, headed by Leonidas, marched in a clofe battalion 

 towards the Perlian camp, with refentment heightened by 

 defpair. The conflict was ardent and deflruftive, whilll the 

 Greeks were favoured in their attack by the darknefs of the 

 night ; but at tlie approach of day the Perlians, who had 

 ( previouflv fled, difcovered that their fears had multiplied the 

 number of the enemy ; and therefore rallying their Icatter- 

 ed forces, Xerxes gave orders to purfue the Greeks, wlio 

 had retreated in clofe order to the fhaits of Thcrmopylx. 

 The fhock was dreadful ; and the battle was maintained on 

 the fide of the Greeks with perfevering intrepidity and dcf- 

 perate valour. At length a barbarian dart pierced the heart 

 of Leo.iidas ; p.evcrthdcfs the Lacedxmonians and Tliefpians, 



though inglorioufly defertcd by the Thebai.j, maintained 

 their tirmnefs to the lall ; and they were finally not dellroycd 

 or conquered, but buried under a trophy of PerliaJi nnr.s. 

 (See Leonida.s and Thkumoi'vl.t,.) During the military- 

 operations at Thermojjylx, the Grecian fleet was llationed 

 in the harbour of Artemifium, the northern promontory of 

 Eubcea, and the niimercus one of the Perlians had an- 

 chored on the road that extends between the city of Callansea 

 and the promontory of Sepias, on the coatl of ThefTaly 

 Here it fuffered calamities, of which Xerxes had been fore- 

 warned, but which he difregarded. Themiilocles, by hij 

 addrefs, prevailed on the Atherian commander to remain at 

 Artemifium ; and as foon as the Perlians recovered from the 

 terrors of the florin, tlie effeCls of whicIi they had fuffered, 

 both fides prepared for a battle, for tiie refult of which fee 

 AuTE.MisiUM. The Perfians were again totally defeated 

 near Salamis (which fee) ; upon whicli Xerxes determined 

 to leave Greece. Of the condudl of Themiftocles on this 

 occafion, fee his article ; and for an account of the battle of 

 PlatKa, fee Blatjf.a. The event of this bloody engage- 

 ment not only delivered the Greeks from the danger of fer- 

 vitud^", but gave them poffeflion of greater wealth than they 

 could ever have expefted to poffcfs. In his precipitate re- 

 treat from Greece, Xerxes left behind hin: all his riches and 

 magnificence. The battle of Platxa was fucceeded by that 

 of Mycalc, in which the Greeks were again viftcrious. 

 About 40,000 Perfians periflied in the field, many fell in the 

 purfuit, and the remainder fled in diforder, nor thought them- 

 felves fecure till they had reached the walls of Sardis. Tli?;r 

 fliips, their camp, the freedom of Ionia, and the undillurbtd 

 pofTeflion of the Afiatic coafl, formed the ineflimable prize 

 of the viftors ; and thus the expedition of Xerxe?, under- 

 taken with a wew to enflave Europe, reflored liberty to the 

 fairefl portion of Afia. The beginning of the 5th century 

 B.C. forms the mofl glorious era in the hiflory of Greece. 

 It is, however, the peculiar glory of the Athenians that, 

 during their rapid career of military and naval triumphs, 

 they cultivated, with a generous enthufiafm, the arts whicU 

 adorn peace as well as war. It is obfervabh; that in the tin- 

 gle hfe-time of Pericles, the republic of -\thens produced 

 thofe ineflimable models of poetry, eloquence, and philo- 

 fophy, which, in every fucceeding age, the ciihghlened por- 

 tion of mankind hath invariably ivgard'-d as the bell 

 ftandaids, not merely of competition and flyle, but of 

 tafle and reafon. The name of Greek fecmcd thenceforth 

 to be funk in that of Athenian. (Sec Athhn;?, and 

 Sparta.) For an abllra'.:fl of the further hiflory of this 

 period of Alexander's hiflory and exploits, we have given a 

 brief flceich under his article ; we Ihall here obfcrve, with 

 Dr. Gillies, that during the latter years of his rvign the 

 Greeks, deprived of the honour and delivered alfo from thr 

 Cares of independent fovereignty, and undifhirbed by thofe 

 continual and often bloody diifenfions, which deform t!i» 

 ar.nals of their tumultuous hbeity, indulged their natural 

 propenfitv to the focial embellilhments of life ; a propeniity 

 by which thev were honoumbly diflingiiiflied above all other 

 nations of antiquity. Their innumerable fhows, feltivals, 

 and dramatic entertainments, were exhibited witli more pomp 

 than at any former period. The fchools of philofophers and 

 rhetorician.^ were frequented by all defcriptions of men. 

 Painting and llatuary were cultivated with equal ardour and 

 fuccefs. Man\- improvements were made in the fcieiiccs, and 

 the Greeks, particularly the Athenians itill rivalled the 

 tallc and genius, though not the fpirit and virtue, ot their 

 ancellors. Yet even in this degenerate Itate, when patriotilm 

 and true valour were cxtinft, and thefe vapquilhed republi- 

 c-ans had ucitlier liberrie? to love, nor country to defend, their 

 4 B i rtrutial 



